The Weight of the Stones
Today we have an exciting group of verses to discuss. We should have read John chapters 7 and 8.
We begin in John 8, which—if you’re reading in the NIV—opens with a woman about to be stoned for adultery. Leviticus 20:10 and Deuteronomy 22:22 require punishment for both the man and the woman. But here, we only read of the woman.
My curiosity is: where was the man? And was her husband also afflicted? Was he the one who caught her in the act—her accuser? He would have been the first to cast a stone (Deuteronomy 17:7). Was he the first to lay his stone down? Or was he equally unfaithful?
We don’t know the answer. The Bible doesn’t give them. But I believe these are the questions we need to ask when we read Scripture—not because we need the answers, but because these were actual events involving actual people, and they deserve our deep consideration. Not just scanning over them as a story.
Conviction and Confession
The problem is that when we give deep consideration to the events in this chapter—even the actions of the Pharisees who question who Jesus’ Father is—we have to confront our own failing.
Can we convict them without convicting ourselves?
We may claim we know Jesus is God, but do we live like we know He is watching over us? If we say we do, but continue to sin, we are lying. If we claim we don’t sin, we are also lying: “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8)
Slaves to Sin or Righteousness
That is the nature of sin—we become its slaves. That’s a word people don’t like these days: slave. But it’s the word the original manuscripts used: doulas, or a related version, 150 times. (1)
In John 8:33, the Jews claim they are not slaves. But we all are.
John MacArthur’s book Slave points out we are slaves of sin or slaves of righteousness. (2) Jesus says, “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” (John 8:34) But: “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36)
To be a slave of righteousness, however, you must remove the sin. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
That’s something the Pharisees refused to do. Because of that, Jesus tells them: “You will die in your sins.” (John 8:24) This is a stark reality we all must embrace.
Sin’s Cost and the Path of Lies
“Sin will take you further than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.” (3)
It reminds me of the only time I ever had to spank my son.
He had done something at school—I don’t even recall what the offense was. But when he got home, I went into his room and asked him to tell me what happened. I had already heard the story, and my wife had confirmed its accuracy.
So when he started telling me a different version, I challenged him on a detail. He changed to another false description. The more we went, the deeper the lie got—until I explained I was going to give him a spanking. Not for what happened at school, but for the lies he was telling me.
I made sure it was a spanking he would never want repeated. It broke my heart to do it—but he never needed another.
Denial and Justice
The Pharisees held to their denial, which is lying. They refused to accept the truth. Therefore, the Father chose their fate because He demands justice, not because Jesus judged them.
This chapter starts with a guilty woman who receives forgiveness (John 8:11) and concludes with them desiring to stone Jesus (John 8:59)—an innocent man who died for our forgiveness.
Tomorrow, we will read John 9-10.
Footnotes
- John MacArthur, Slave: The Hidden Truth About Your Identity in Christ (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2010), 45. — Discusses the use of doulas and its mistranslation in English Bibles.
- Ibid., 89–91. — Explains the contrast between slavery to sin and slavery to righteousness.
- Adrian Rogers, Bring Back the Glory, sermon, Bellevue Baptist Church, Memphis, TN. — quoted in evangelical teaching to illustrate the deceptive nature of sin.